Lakshmi didn't know what to do about her bouts of vertigo till she read about NeuroEquilibrium. The super-speciality healthcare startup chain of vertigo and balance disorders clinics advised exercises, albeit with a twist - the exercises were delivered via virtual reality (VR).

"I was advised some exercises. I used to have a rocking sensation like I would fall. It happens rarely now. I took this VR treatment for 15 days. It has been one month since then, I only do some basic exercises at home now," said the 24-year-old from Jaipur. "The VR exercises were very interesting too."

VR - wherein a viewer, after strapping on a headgear like Facebook-acquired Oculus Rift, HTC Vive or Samsung VR Gear, gets immersed into the experience -has been finding use cases in industries like real estate and entertainment.

But VR in healthcare, even globally, is still evolving. Startups are finding use cases primarily for surgery and training simulation for doctors, physiotherapy rehabilitation, fitness devices which combine VR technology with standard exercises for fitness, and platforms that help patients in dealing with stress, anxiety or other mental issues.

Jaipur-based NeuroEquilibrium, founded by Anita and Rajneesh Bhandari, along with Kolkata based Vertigo specialist Anirban Biswas, has recently started its experiment with VR technology.

"We wanted to combine medicine with technology and engineering to get better results. We understood that there was a limitation to how much you can do in a conventional way. We wanted to take it ahead by adding technology to it," said Anita Bhandari, who has been treating vertigo patients for a decade now.

The startup ­ founded in April has raised $250,000 in seed funds from Unicorn India Ventures.

NeuroEquilibrium has already designed 20 distinct exercises to cater to vestibular rehabilitation patients. The vestibular system, within the inner ear, processes the sensory data that controls the body's balance and eye movement. Vestibular disorders result in spinning or unsteadiness.

Each session of the rehabilitation lasts 45 minutes and costs Rs 300. For example, one of the exercises involves tracing a dot along a square using the VR headgear.

This helps in gaze stabilisation for patients and desensitisation for patients with hypersensitivity to movement. The startup, which is presently designing the exercises in-house, is looking to tie up with a professional VR startups to come up with more such exercises.

“We have seen faster progress among the patients who are undergoing this VR treatment. These are gamified, so the levels of improvement is faster, we can give the next set of exercises faster. We can customise exercises,” said Rajneesh Bhandari, cofounder of NeuroEquilibrium. Before VR came into the picture, the exercises would have to be done at home, where you cannot track the progress in real-time, and would last over 21 days.

The startup is still viewing this as an experiment and is collecting data to prove scientific basis for the model. The startup has tried the VR treatment with 80 patients so far.

“VR can be used with regards to phobias and disorders. I think the upcoming generations, they will be comfortable with these technologies. But the combination is also required. It is like having virtual classrooms, human touch is also required. We need to find a balance. Definitely there is a lot of potential (for VR),” said Seema Pradhan, consultant psychologist and psychotherapist at Fortis Hospital, Bengaluru.